Patients undergoing dialysis for kidney failure could benefit from exercising on a stationary bicycle during the treatment, according to a new study from the Alberta Health Services in Canada.

Following a three-month study of 31 patients under the Southern Alberta Renal Program, it was discovered that stationary cycle work promoted the removal of significantly more waste and toxins from patients' blood during hemodialysis treatment.

A number of innovative trials have alluded to the health benefits of exercise for patients to help treat chronic illnesses and improve sufferers’ quality of life. One recent study has also raised hope of exercise helping to shrink certain cancerous tumours when patients undergo chemotherapy.

In what is being described as the first real-time study of urea removal while exercising during hemodialysis, findings show that patients remove an average of 12 per cent more urea when they pedal during process.

Urea is produced when the liver breaks down protein, with hemodialysis removing waste and toxins from the blood when the kidneys fail in one of their functions to facilitate removal.

Exercise is thought to help the procedure as it increases blood flow in certain muscles, which also store urea. The blood then picks up this urea, which can be removed by dialysis.

Other findings also showed that the patients reported different health benefits too, including weight loss and muscle gain.

“Before exercise, patients would remove urea at a certain rate. Once they started exercising, the rate of urea removal increased significantly,” said Dr. Davina Tai, program nephrologist.

“It’s very exciting. Urea removal is related to clearance of other toxins, and we know this is associated with better survival and decreased morbidity (disease) in hemodialysis patients.”

The Canadian renal programme has been offering exercise during hemodialysis to its patients at three locations since 2005, with 100 of the program’s 729 conventional hemodialysis patients – people who undergo four-hour treatments three times each week – having decided to pedal a bike during treatment.

The findings are to be presented by Dr Tai at the Canadian Society of Nephrology's upcoming annual meeting in Montreal.